The invention pertains to the field of chain reactions for amplifying DNA or RNA (nucleic acids), and, more particularly, to the field of machines for automatically performing this process through temperature cycling.
Methods described in the past for synthesizing nucleic acid sequences from an existing sequence, for example, the phosphodiester and phosphotriester methods [see Narang et al., Meth. Entymol. 68, 90 (1979); and Brown et al., Meth. Enzymol. 68, 109 (1979), respectively], are not practical to produce large amounts of nucleic acid sequences. Such methods are laborious and time-consuming, require expensive equipment and reagents, and have a low overall efficiency.
There are methods for producing nucleic acid sequences in large amounts from small amounts of an existing sequence. Such methods involve cloning of a nucleic acid sequence in an appropriate host system, and culturing the host, wherein the vector in which the nucleic acid sequence has been inserted is replicated, resulting in copies of the vector and hence the sequence. See T. Maniatis, et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, pp. 390-401 (1982); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,416,988 and 4,403,036. The original sequence can also be organically synthesized before insertion in a vector See U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,652.
A method, described by Saiki et al., Science, 230, 1530-1534 (1985), has been devised for amplifying one or more specific nucleic acid sequences or a mixture thereof using primers, nucleotide triphosphates, and an agent for polymerization, such as DNA polymerase, The extension product of one primer, when hybridized to the other, becomes a template for the production of the desired specific nucleic acid sequence, and vice versa. The process is repeated as often as necessary to produce the desired amount of the sequence. The method is referred to in the Science article as Polymerase Chain Reaction or "PCR".
This method is especially useful for performing clinical tests on the DNA or RNA from a fetus or other donor where large amounts of the DNA or RNA are not readily available and more DNA or RNA must be manufactured to have a sufficient amount to perform tests. The presence of diseases which have unique DNA or RNA signatures can be detected by amplifying a nucleic acid sample from a patient and using various probe procedures to assay for the presence of the nucleic acid sequence being detected in the test. Such test might be prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell anemia, as described by Saiki et al., supra, where the amplification of specific B-globin target sequences in genomic DNA resulted in the exponential increase (220,000 times) of target DNA copies, increasing sensitivity and speed while reducing the complexity of diagnosis. Another test is the diagnosis of the AIDS virus, which is thought to alter the nucleic acid sequence of its victims.
Five patent applications which describe the amplification process, PCR, are copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 818,127, filed Jan. 10, 1986, now abandoned, copending U.S. Ser. No. 716,982, filed Mar. 28, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,194, copending U.S. Ser. No. 791,308, filed Oct. 25, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,202, copending U.S. Ser. No. 828,144, filed Feb. 7, 1986, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,195, and copending U.S. Ser. No. 839,331, filed Mar. 13, 1986, now abandoned, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The amplification method, PCR, bears some similarity to the molecular cloning methods described above, but does not involve propagation of a host organism, avoiding the hazards and inconvenience therein involved. In addition, the amplification method does not require synthesis of nucleic acid sequences unrelated to the desired sequence, and thereby obviates the need for extensive purification of the product from a complicated biological mixture. Finally, the amplification is more efficient than the alternative methods for producing large amounts of nucleic acid sequences from a target sequence and for producing such sequences in a comparatively short period of time.
At first, the amplification procedure, PCR, described above was carried out by hand in the laboratories. The manual process involves a great deal of repetitive liquid handling steps and incubations at controlled temperatures. This is not only time-consuming and tedious, but it is also subject to error caused by human operator attention span drift. Such errors could result in a misdiagnosis of a genetic birth defect and an unnecessary abortion or the lack of an abortion where a birth defect exists. Further, such errors could result in misdiagnosis of sickle cell anemia or other genetic disorders.
Further, certain nucleic acids amplify more efficiently than others, so some nucleic acid sequence amplifications require more amplification cycles than others. because the cost of laboratory labor can be high, and the risks to which a laboratory is subjected are high in case of error in erroneously performing amplification, there has arisen a need for a system which can automate the amplification process.